Deep Delta Justice
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3.0 • 99 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Finalist for 2021 Audie Award in History/Biography
The book that inspired the documentary A Crime on the Bayou
2021 Chautauqua Prize Finalist
The "arresting, astonishing history" of one lawyer and his defendant who together achieved a "civil rights milestone" (Justin Driver).
In 1966 in a small town in Louisiana, a 19-year-old black man named Gary Duncan pulled his car off the road to stop a fight. Duncan was arrested a few minutes later for the crime of putting his hand on the arm of a white child. Rather than accepting his fate, Duncan found Richard Sobol, a brilliant, 29-year-old lawyer from New York who was the only white attorney at "the most radical law firm" in New Orleans. Against them stood one of the most powerful white supremacists in the South, a man called simply "The Judge."
In this powerful work of character-driven history, journalist Matthew Van Meter vividly brings alive how a seemingly minor incident brought massive, systemic change to the criminal justice system. Using first-person interviews, in-depth research and a deep knowledge of the law, Van Meter shows how Gary Duncan's insistence on seeking justice empowered generations of defendants-disproportionately poor and black-to demand fair trials. Duncan v. Louisiana changed American law, but first it changed the lives of those who litigated it.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The smallest moments can often be the ones that change history. Investigative journalist Matthew Van Meter brings a keen eye for detail—and ear for storytelling—to this incisive look at the landmark Supreme Court case Duncan vs. Louisiana. In 1966, a Black man named Gary Duncan found himself on the wrong side of the law for touching the arm of a white teenager. Denied a jury trial, Duncan teamed up with a determined young civil-rights lawyer who eventually helped him push his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Van Meter’s flair as a writer made us feel like we were listening to a courtroom thriller, especially when a ready-made villain appears in the form of Leander Perez, a local politician and unabashedly heinous racist hell-bent on keeping Duncan unjustly imprisoned. Through it all, narrator Brad Sanders does a masterful job capturing the powder-keg atmosphere of the 1960s Deep South. Duncan’s story proves that sometimes determination can succeed in the face of blatant hatred. It’s a lesson well worth remembering.
Customer Reviews
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